neon_city_projectfandomcom-20200214-history
Metal Snake (Hope Dryden)
Origin Finding a Mentor Hope started off as a regular human, and killed time in her early years practicing martial arts. Her passion was the only thing that kept her from dying of boredom and loneliness. After reaching the age of 19, she was feeling irritated from the stagnation of no longer having any new challenges ahead of her, save her brother Rowan, whom she could not best. She had heard rumors of a legendary master that once went by the title of "The Iron Dragon", and so (having nothing better to do) sought him out. Two weeks into her searches on a continent foreign to her, she finds the old man living alone, close to a small village. Since she had little understanding of the native tongue, Hope's attempts at convincing the old man to train her failed. Having nowhere to go at this point, she decided to live in the village, earning her keep by helping the village folk with various tasks. After an entire month, the old man approaches her, speaking (somewhat errant) english. He explained that he was simply testing her patience, as she would need it for the trials ahead. Two years pass, and Hope finds that she has made much more progress than she could have hoped for on her own. The old man finally confesses that his strength stems from his power to consume metal, which greatly increased his physical prowess (hence the title "Iron Dragon"). Hope then laments that she cannot learn to do this, as this power is something that you either have, or don't. Hope's Departure She carries on for a few months, and decides to move on to seek challenges elsewhere. As she reaches the edge of the village, Hope notices smoke in the distance, where the old man's house was located. She rushes over there, only to find that it is in ruins, covered in flames and full of weapons portruding from its walls. She was astonished to find that a stranger was fighting her mentor, using the very same techniques he'd tought her. What she found most surprising were the powers the two combatants used, as the attacker spat fire while her master breathed out metal in the form of shrapnel. The attacker fleed the scene, as the old man's body fell to the ground. In a panic, Hope rushed over to him. The wounded man only lightly taps the forehead of the young woman, as he passes his powers onto her. He dies without saying a word. Angered by the death of her master, Hope pursues the assailant, and eventually catches him, engaging in a fight. Having no idea that she had acquiered any powers, she finds herself at a disadvatage. Her opponent taunts her, claiming that she is nothing compared "The Iron Dragon", a mere "serpent", a failed attempt at an immitation. As the assassin prepares to deliver the final blow, Hope tried to shout, but rather than sounds came out a plethora of grains of iron. They tore appart her opponents skin and flesh, and the mangled body fell on the charred soil. Wandering After burying her master's body, Hope decided to use of her powers for good. She donned the name "Metal Snake" as both a homage to her masters title, as well as a mark of shame for her inablilty to help him. During her travels, she tries to seek answers for the fire-breathing man that had tried to kill her. After some deducting, she figured that if the man was a hired killer, his employers would not be able to find out about the events that took place. Since the body of his master was buried in a remote location only she knew of, the client(s) would assume the killing to have been a failure. Her suspicions are later confirmed, as a lead that she picked up in the mainland led her to a new trail, which pointed towards Neon City as the origin of the killer. Arriving at Neon City After a year since he had acquired her powers, Metal Snake left for Neon City, where she'd heard many people with all sorts of powers would be present. This gave her the perfect opportuniy to test herself, while allowing her to find more clues about the attackers motives. She quickly found herself heavily outnumbered by Xenon corp. enforcers, and would have been beaten had a team sent from an organization called "Aegis" not helped. Metal Snake realized that, what with all the competing factions with Neon City, it would be foolish to fight alone. She joined Aegis, as they were mostly neutral, had a large ammount of power and resources, and kept order within their territory while not moving much outside of it. This gave her some powerful allies, as well as a safe zone and a residence within Neon City. In return, she would assist Aegis in its endeavors, and keep their district crime-free. Personality Her decision to use "Metal Snake" as an alias is a way to remind herself of her mentor (whom she looked up to) and the words of the killer. This shows that she has a hard time letting go of the past, and wishes to attain a skill level to rival her predecessors. She feels guilty for not being able to rescue her master in time, and not being strong enough to take down the assassin (she believes that he only made it out alive because of a stroke of luck, the attack she pulled off was completely unexpected). Powers Snake possesses all of the powers contained in the description of this page, and while they can be devastating, here are some limits which are not so obvious : - She cannot keep attacking relentlessly; She can quickly run out of energy,if she is not careful. - In order to heal herself with her own constructs, they must have been created for a certain period of time, after which the 'link' between her and the object is severed, and will be treated as any other piece of metal. She can still take back any metal 'binded' to her to regain energy. - She can get full; she cannot keep eating metal if there if no 'room' for that metal to go. Other weaknesses may become apparent, in time. Image Gallery